Sounds better than it ever has, louder and more dynamic (likewise Arecibo).

The result of having better technology on hand and learning a few things along the way.

Sounds promising! More dynamic as in bigger dynamic range I hope. Remasters very often seem to have a reduced dynamic range compared to original recordings (thinking of remasters of old Black Sabbath albums for example) I'm still a bit worried, but it is an healthy sceptisism. I'm looking forward at finding out.

Since I know your stance on the whole loudness war-issue I can't say I'm really THAT worried. I'm glad to see someone actually pays attention to such (important) details.

Really? I almost always find that they have been a bit too heavy on the compression knob and seem to push everything towards the 0 db limit, leaving no room for dynamics and opens up for massive clipping. Everyone wants it loud, right? It is like they've all forgotten about this splendid feature called volume control.

Another example are the old Depeche Mode albums I have on CD. They sound way better than their remastered counterparts. But now we are drifting off topic. But would still love to be proven wrong of course. I also hope you are right, that I've simply run into bad products.

To push this post more into on topic mode: It will be very interesting to see what has happened with the releases this thread concerns. I think it probably is an entirely different thing speaking of remasters of huge artists/bands, compared to the smaller scale we are talking about here. There are different things to take into consideration I'm sure.

I have to agree with Shifts on this one. Typically remasters are lame to me...too much compression is the phrase i would think of first as well.

but i enjoy the crackle of vinyl and the noise of tape - so perhaps thats my bias...theres an old quote from Eno describing how music recorded for those mediums are meant to be heard on them, and to change that removes the original character of the piece. i have to fully agree with him...his music cleaned up and on CD is nothing to compared to how it sounds on it's original vinyl pressings. remasters, again to me, seem to remove the original warmth that drew me in in the first place.

i will say though that Black Stars sounds quite amazing in its remastered version, and this is where I completely trust B. He doesn't seem to ever do shit just for the hell of it. It is all carefully planned and executed, so I'm not really sure there is much to worry. These were great releases, and as lonog as B approves them before they come out I will definitely be in line to hit the Add To Cart button!

I tried to make them sound better as my abilities have improved since they were originally recorded and I'm able to do some mastering myself.
Both have more compression than I'd give Lustmord recordings but only because they needed a little and benefit from it.
I'm of the opinion that I should know how they're supposed to sound.

I've been doing this for a while now and generally know what I'm doing.

Anybody concerned about the changes, just hang to the originals and don't buy the reissues. Simple as that.

I havent been disappointed with the remasters i own. If the technology is available and makes your original intention within reach quickly and cheaply. I expect we'll see alot more remasters, audio is changing (for the better). From an artists point of view, i know i hear things in my music other people dont. I'm very much of the opinion that there is always room for improvment. Be it reworks or remixes or rearrangements.

The trick is knowing when to stop. We're not talking overblown rock remasters here, we're talking subtlety and frequency adjustments for sound ethusiasts. Two thumbs up!

(Note: Alot of bands fall victim to ex-record company tweeks, shoddy marketing "remasters" direct from the board room. The majority of remasters which had the artists full assistance and support are great!)

I hope B doesn't mind us discussing the topic of remasters here in this thread. I find it highly interesting to say the least.

I wasn't aware that Young Team had been remastered, I only own the original. I will have to order the remastered version so I can hear it. This definately got my interest.

Somehow I hope that remasters coming from people like Lustmord, Mogwai, Fennesz, Pita (yes, Editions Mego has remastered a whole lot of the classic Mego releases) might actually have a wish of presenting the material as intended, if they can. So they re-release it. When the people behind the original release work on the new one, I feel a bit more calm I guess.

Now that I think of it, I have both the old and new version of Fennesz's Endless Summer. I should compare the two.

The bigger names on the market more or less seem to re-release old recordings in a new package (and remastered) to keep sales up and give collectors a reason to re-pruchase old albums. Or so I think.